Means for reeling and unreeling corn-planter check-lines



(No Model.)

G. D. HAWORTH.

MEANS FOR REELING AND UNREELING 00m: PLANTER CHECK LINES.

No. 262,226. Patented Aug. 8, 1882.

6 66. I Ina/en Z?- I WOCKM g UNrrs STATES GEORGE D. HAWORTH,

OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS.

MEANS FOR REELING AND UNREELING CORN-PLANTER CHECK-LINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 262,226, dated August 8, 1882,

Application filed September 5, 188i. (No model.)

10 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE D. Hawon'rn, of Decatur, county of Macon, State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Means for Reeling and Unreeling Corn Planter Check-Lines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making part of this specification, which represents a plan or top view of a check-row corn-planter, showing my improvements.

Myinvention relates to the combination, with a corn-planter, of a reel for transporting, paying out, and taking up the check-line, and to a novel construction of dragging or yielding anchor for such check-line, adapting it to coinpensate for any dragging to which it may be subjected; and it consistsin the combination, with the planter, of a reel for carrying, paying out, and taking up the check-line, having its axis arranged between the longitudinal-vertical planes of the forked arms or levers actuating the seeding devices, and of the rollers guiding the check-line to the latter, whereby the check-line may be paid out into the desired position in the field or'taken up therefrom without actuating the seeding devices; and it further consists of a yielding or dragging anchor for check-lines, composed of a portion of the check-line itself, made into a coil or bundle, which, after it has served the purpose of an anchor for causing the paying out of the check-line, may be untied or unwrapped and used as a part of the check-line to be extended back over the space over which the anchor has dragged, thereby compensating for the dragging of the latter, as hereinafter explained.

In the accompanying drawing a check-row corn-planter, or as much thereof as is necesessary to show my invention, is represented, and as said planter may be of any usual or preferred construction, such as are nowin use, it need not be herein described in detail beyond what is necessary in explaining my present improvements.

A represents the frame of the machine, B B the carrying-wheels, O C the seed boxes orhoppers, D the check-row fran1e-bar,d cl the swiveling guide'pulley bars, secured to the ends of the bar D, said bars d d being provided with gnidingpulleys, over or around which the check-line passes for actuating the seeding devices, and ff the forked arms or levers through which the check-line E acts upon the seeding devices, said parts being of any usual or preferred form and arrangement.

Upon the frame A, in rear of the frame-bar D of the check-row attachment, is mounted a reel, G, which, with its supporting-frame, is by preference made in the form substantially as described in Letters Patent granted to me December 28, 1880, and secured to a vertical axis, or one nearly vertical, located between the vertical longitudinal planes of the forked arms or levers through which the check-line acts upon the seeding devices, said axis being made adjustable, if desired, for adapting it to different constructions of check-row planters in use.

The reel is by preference adjusted so as to bring its forward face about into the same vertical transverse plane with the portion of the check-line crossing the machine between the guiding-pulley, as shown, as by this arrangement the reel is adapted to pay out the checkline into a working position or relation to the machine and ground, and also to reel it in from such position. The reel is designed for the transportation of the check-line and for paying out and taking up the same only, and forms no part of the seeding mechanism, being idle and out of use when the check-line isin use for actuating the seeding devices.

In paying out the check-line the attendant first unreels a portion of the line, wrapping it into a coil orbundle, E, ofthe desired bulk and weight, which he secures by tying it with the end of the line, as indicated, when, by throwing it down upon the ground at or near one head-line of the field to be planted, said ging anchor, causing the line to be paid out or unreeled into the desired position as the machine is drawn across the field. A fixed anchor or stake may of course be used, if preferred, for unreeling the check-line; but an anchor formed from the check-line itself, as above described, has been found exceedingly efficient and satisfactory in practice, as the coil may be made of sufficient weight to prevent any great amount of dragging, and, yielding as it does to bundle is made to serve as a yielding or drag an unusual strain, it reduces the strain on the line and the machine in paying out the line, and at the same time possesses in itself the material to compensate for any dragging to which it may be subjected, as it can be readily untied or unwrapped and extended back to the head-line over the space over which it has been dragged.

This construction of the anchor from the check-line itself is of advantage, also, in that it obviates the necessity of carrying extra weight upon the machine in the shape of anchors for securing the check line, such as are in ordinary use, and which are liable to get lost or mislaid, while the check-line is always in place and ready for use in the manner described. In paying out the check-line it passes through the pulley-guide d, and is laid upon the ground in the required position to operate the check-row attachment or seeding devices on the return movement of the machine across the field.

In taking up or reeling in the check -line the reel is operated through a crank pin or handle, similar to that described in my patent above referred to, by the attendant in his seat on the machine as the latter is drawn across the field, the line passing into the reel from its working position, as the machine advances, through the pulley-guide d, thereby avoiding the dragging of the check-lineov'er the ground, as in the ordinary method of taking it up. In

this method of reeling in or paying out the check-line, while said line is taken up from or paid out into working position or relation to the seeding devices, by locating the axis of the reel between the arms orlevers which actuate said devices, as explained, it will be apparent in either operation, as the line passes only one of the arms said arm will not be retracted, and consequently the line will be paid out or taken up, as may be required, without actuating the seeding devices;

I am aware that reels have been employed for taking up and paying out check-lines, and I therefore do not claim such device, broadly, irrespective of arrangement. I am also aware that in check-row corn-plan ters reelseor armed wheels have been employed, acted upon, in the movement of the machine across the field, by the cheelcline, for actuating the seeding devices.. This I do not claim; but,

Having now described my invention, what 1 claim as new is- 1. A reel for transporting the check-line and for paying out and taking up the same, mounted on the planter-frame on an axis located between the longitudinal vertical planes of the forked arms or levers actuating the seeding devices and the pulleys guiding the check-line thereto, and in combination with said levers and pulleys, arranged and operating substantially as described.

2. A yielding or dragging anchor for cornplanter check-lines, composed of a portion of the check-line made into a coil or bundle, adapted to be used to compensate for the dragging of said anchor, substantially as described. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 30th day of August, A. D. 1881.

GEORGE D. HAWORTH. Witnesses:

'lnno. COLEMAN, W. E. HAwoR'rH. 

